Cycle Canada's Cabot Trail begins in Charlottetown, P.E.I. Late afternoon on the day that riders assemble in Charlottetown, there is an orientation. That night we stay in the city’s old downtown, close to all of its amenities. On the first riding day we go east to Wood Island and take a ferry across the Northumberland Strait to Nova Scotia. Our route goes past Pictou and we recommend a stop to see the Hector, a replica of an 18th century sailing ship that brought Scottish immigrants to the new world.
Our route in Nova Scotia first tracks the Northumberland Strait through Malignant Cove and Cape George Point to Antigonish, the major centre before crossing onto Cape Breton. After crossing the Strait of Canso causeway, we go overland to Great Bras d’or and follow the Middle River valley to the Margaree River valley.
At North East Margaree we are formally on the Cabot Trail. Most of our route from here is on the Trail. The big town on this side of Cape Breton is Chéticamp, a largely Acadian community that is the major fishing port in the area. Past Chéticamp the first of the big climbs on the Cabot Trail is to French Mountain (455 metres at the pass). Then it’s back to sea level at Pleasant Bay and back up to the pass at North Mountain (445 metres).
From the pass at North Mountain it’s back to sea level again near Dingwall and Aspey Bay, famous for its oysters. We leave the Cabot Trail for a while here to take shoreline trip along Aspey Bay through Smelt Brook and Neil’s Harbour. Then it’s south through Ingonish and on to the last of the famous climbs on the Cabot Trail — Cape Smokey, 366 metres at the top.
After the hairpin descent from Smokey, we cross St. Anns Gut on the way to Baddeck, a historic village where Alexander Graham Bell had a summer home and where Canada’s first airplane, the Silver Dart, had its maiden flight a century ago. There we end the trip with a lobster dinner and a stay at an inn in the centre of the village.
